“At the end of reincarnation, all things shall come to a close — the Underworld is the final home of all living things……” The Prison-Suppressing Emperor murmured, as if the words were a dark incantation, reverberating through the nether earth.

His body staggered. He held the heavenly halberd in one hand and the black-gold shield in the other, walking toward the distance. In the path he left behind, black blood soaked the ground — he was clearly at his limit.

“It has come to pass…… This place will be my end — my final home, my burial ground.”

The Prison-Suppressing Emperor could barely stand, on the verge of collapse at any moment. He was about to become dust in history — even a sovereign of his stature had reached life’s end.

His eyes held reluctance. They held defiance. Though he had ended the lives of countless beings and had long since become a heart of iron, the wish he had carried within him had never been realized. He would carry it away with him as a deep and profound regret.

“What is eternal life? Ask all under heaven — not one person has ever achieved it. In the end, all turn to a handful of yellow earth. No matter how peerless your brilliance, no matter how great a hero — it makes no difference.”

His flesh was cracking. Black blood seeped out in rivulets. Dark light burned across his entire body, carrying a kind of tragic magnificence. “Back then, the Emperor Venerable — ha, ha…… — wanted to offer us as living sacrifices, and in the end still failed to ascend to immortality!”

To tread the immortal road, to reach this juncture, to stand at this height — one could say you stood high above all, looking down upon the nine heavens and ten earths. And yet the final outcome was one of boundless, ancient solitude.

Invincibility availed nothing. The road ahead was severed.

This life, this existence — all of it spent in search of immortality, seeking to shatter the undying and behold eternal life. And yet in the end, all one could do was listen to one’s own funeral hymn amid the cold sorrow of the mortal world, and turn to dust within it.

“He” was not alone in this. Through all of antiquity, the Great Emperors had fallen into desolation and silence. One could imagine them in those former years — how vigorous and magnificent, commanding the wind and clouds, supreme above all under heaven, none who could contend with them.

And yet in the end, every last one of them had only one outcome. Even to dominate all above and below the heavens was useless. Unrivaled beneath all creation — and yet they would inevitably march toward the desolate end of decay and turn to cinders.

The Prison-Suppressing Emperor staggered. He was searching for his own grave — seeking to bury himself. He leaned on his battle halberd, and with each step his body cracked open a little more, as if he might shatter on the spot at any moment.

He was no longer any sovereign. He was only an old man whose flame was nearly spent.

Ye Fan did not strike. He only watched in silence, letting him choose the place of his own burial.

“The Underworld is the work of several generations. Along the road toward eternal life, we were not without insight. We sought true blood of every kind, seeking to condense the ‘True One’ — merging chaos into unity, forging immortal blood.”

The Prison-Suppressing Emperor disclosed a great secret. As death approached, words become virtuous. One could also say: he did not wish to see the crystallized achievement of several generations of sovereigns obliterated and lost forever in the long river of history.

This was a great endeavor. In theory, it could forge a Chaos Physique — all blood returning to one, beholding the true immortal body.

Ye Fan felt once more the terror of the Chaos Physique — all blood fused together to behold a Chaos Physique, how staggering would that be? Of course, theory held that this would touch upon immortality, but the final step still required transcendence.

This path was extraordinary. It was not the method of the Underworld’s Netherworld Emperor, but rather something several of the other leaders had brought from outside, studying it over long years.

“The blood of ten thousand kinds was not complete. Yet we still gave birth to a monster — one that became fused with the Heaven-Connecting Nether Treasure. It is sensitive to all manner of bloodlines, and one day it will most likely come to seek you out.”

“Or perhaps one could say we unwittingly completed something for the Netherworld Emperor — perhaps the Heaven-Connecting Nether Treasure is his divine object!”

“I have heard you cultivate the Source Technique. In truth, this is a fragment left behind by Nether Venerable. The Heaven-Connecting Nether Treasure understands it far more deeply and profoundly than you do. Be prepared.”

……

These words left Ye Fan’s thoughts tumultuous for a long while. He stood in place for a long time, watching in silence as the Prison-Suppressing Emperor walked away.

“Thud!”

At last, the Prison-Suppressing Emperor could hold on no longer. He did not choose to leave his body behind, nor did he dissolve into the Dao. He simply exploded apart. Only residual blood and shattered bone splashed outward, falling into a deep pit. His spirit, too, scattered.

With a resounding clang, the nether-iron battle armor flew up. The heavenly halberd flared with light. The black-gold shield shot skyward. Only a shattered black battle spear fell into the pit, accompanying him as his burial object.

Ye Fan turned and did not look back again. He searched out the remnants and belongings of Chuanying and buried them in the starry sky.

He lingered here for two days, searching in silence, witnessing many astonishing things and seeing several ancient steles. His heart jolted again and again.

Burying the entirety of the cosmos, interring multiple epochs beneath the earth — this was no empty claim. He had seen several steles, ancient to a frightening degree, with no way to determine what era they came from. The writing upon them was incomprehensible, surpassing the range of divine script.

He then discovered further shocking secrets recorded on one ancient stele he could read.

The nether earth was boundlessly vast, like another cosmos entirely.

At one time, those of the Underworld had excavated undying divine remains — figures of the imperial path, belonging to an era before the mythic age, believed to originate from the incomprehensible ancient chaos period.

Moreover, from antiquity to the present, this had happened more than once — at least three such remains had been unearthed. Tragically, all were incomplete and had been destroyed in the most terrifying external campaign ever recorded in history.

“The end of reincarnation…… Will such a day truly come?” Ye Fan murmured, gazing at the boundless starry sky. His cultivation had reached a point equivalent to the other ancient venerables — to shatter eternity and ask after eternal life was his ultimate goal.

He did not engage in a great slaughter here. He simply called forth the two quasi-emperors of the ninth heaven within this place and instructed them to rein in the spectral soldiers and generals, forbidding them from bringing harm to the world.

Without anyone who had attained the Dao, without any figure of the imperial path, the Underworld had no way to resist Ye Fan’s will. Both men agreed readily, not daring to defy him.

The Underworld had fallen!

Even Ye Fan himself felt it was unreal — the place regarded as the most terrifying battlefield had simply declined like this, walking into its own decay.

Of course, should the Netherworld Emperor return to life, everything would change again — storms would surely rise once more!

And for now, under Ye Fan’s sovereign might, the Underworld could only submit. Taking it into the Celestial Court would also not be out of the question.

Starlight blazed brilliant. Ye Fan rode atop divine radiance, stepped forward, and stars shifted while heaven and earth transformed.

A blazing rainbow bridge stretched across the cosmos, sweeping through the ten thousand domains of all the heavens, arriving straight at a certain star world. This rainbow was too resplendent — connecting the two shores of the starry sky.

“What is that — a golden road of light? How can it be so long?”

“It stretches into the depths of the cosmos. Is this…… a Great Emperor setting forth?!”

Before long, everyone understood who it was. Ye Fan was returning from the Underworld, shaking all realms. Every powerful being understood: the nether earth could not hold him. He was without equal in the world.

“Is he heading to…… the Hegemon Body Ancestral Star?”

The golden road of light — it was unknown how many star systems it spanned — arrived straight at the river of stars surrounding the Hegemon Body Ancestral Star, open and unashamed, without any concealment. This was how Ye Fan came to wage war.

Having just stormed through the Underworld, now arriving at another fearsome forbidden realm — a single day of successive campaigns — it stunned all the heroes of the world.

Was this the might of a fully-completed Sacred Physique? Blood aura like an ocean, flooding the starry sky — like a heavenly emperor on patrol, descending upon the star domain of a sworn enemy’s lineage.

This was a great star, full of vital energy, with magnificent mountains and rivers, a vast earth, and an abundance of essence. It was extremely suited to cultivation and the comprehension of the Dao.

The Hegemon Body Ancestral Star was extraordinary. Having endured through ten thousand tribulations without being destroyed, it had by now been etched with the unique Dao markings that belonged to them alone — and within this place, every cultivation achievement would be suppressed.

Ordinary cultivators dared not approach, for here they could not bring out their true combat strength.

Of course, beings of the sovereign level were not subject to this restriction. The golden road of light spread to just before the star and then vanished. Ye Fan descended, silent and without sound, in one single step.

At the horizon, the fiery clouds of sunset were unusually vivid, a wash of red — like blood splashed across cloth. In the sky, five moons had already risen.

Ye Fan stood upon a mountain cliff. Below, a vast waterfall cascaded downward. On the earth, lush greenery spread in all directions, with wild beasts roaming. With a slight sensing of his mind, he located exactly where the Hegemon Body ancestral cavern lay.

“I refuse to believe he’d truly dare to come here. This place is the sleeping ground of several ancient patriarchs — and he is only one person. Last time during the tribulation, he was slaughtered until his body shattered so many times he barely escaped with his life. That was a bloody lesson.”

“Hush, keep your voice down. The Sacred Physique at full completion is truly no weaker than the ancient patriarchs. And his blood aura is vigorous — he really might come.”

“Several ancient patriarchs are standing guard here. Is he really walking into his own death?”

“We acknowledge the Sacred Physique is very strong — but he is only one person, walking to our door to start a fight. I think blood will surely be spilled here. He’ll die for nothing.”

Before the mountain gate, a group of people spoke in hushed voices.

At this moment, a man approached. In the glow of the evening sunset, golden light bathed his body — he looked like a heavenly emperor descended into the mortal world, his gait the stride of a dragon and the step of a tiger.

“Who is this? Stop right there!” The group guarding the mountain gate shouted.

Ye Fan’s gaze swept sideways. The people ahead exploded outright — blood mist drifted up, making this place feel particularly chilling.

Having found the right location, Ye Fan made no further pretense. His aura flowed outward naturally. He walked inward. All who faced him trembled — beneath this presence, every one of them shook uncontrollably, dropping involuntarily to their knees.

This was the aura of a sovereign. It reached everywhere without limit, instantly sweeping across the vast earth. All living things wailed — whether soaring birds or roaming beasts, whether the people of the Hegemon Body Ancestral Star or any other — none could resist. They trembled, and fell helplessly to the ground.

Even Great Sages were no exception — prostrating themselves on the earth.

Ye Fan reigned supreme over all under heaven as he passed through the mountain gate.

Beyond the great mountain lay an open expanse, like a great plain. Only at the center stood a divine peak, radiating purple mist.

At the foot of the peak, there was a cave. From it, auspicious colors had poured forth year-round without cease. Within it were hidden all the most powerful beings this star had ever known, from ancient times to the present.

“Sacred Physique — you truly dared to come!”

Within that ancient cave, surging purple mist boiled and rolled outward. A voice like wind and thunder rang out, echoing beneath the open sky.

“Why would I not dare?” Ye Fan asked, his tone flat.

“You fled in panic not long ago, like a stray dog that had lost its home — and now you dare to come and display a Great Emperor’s dominance here?” The one within the ancient cave spoke without the slightest regard for his face.

“A group of clowns, nothing more — seizing the moment of my tribulation to cause trouble, and daring to treat that as something to boast about. Today I will level you!”

The two sides were at sharp odds. Though such words could hardly shake the Dao-hearts of beings at their level, they were not without effect — at times they could stir the other’s emotions.

“If you want to send yourself to death, come and try. We’ll accommodate you!” A thunderous shout burst from within the ancestral cave.

Ye Fan acted directly. His body expanded enormously, standing like a heavenly god upon the plain, black hair flowing like a river of stars, pupils blazing like bolts of lightning. His Dharmic Body towered into the clouds. One foot kicked out toward the ancestral mountain of the Hegemon Body lineage.

This was the bearing of one who says “I alone am supreme” — even having come to the Hegemon Body Ancestral Star, even facing more than one sovereign, he still dared to act this way. He simply raised his foot and stomped, intending to trample them underfoot!

The divine peak was grand and majestic, a spectacle of ten thousand phenomena, wreathed in swirling clouds and flowing purple mist. In this moment, it abruptly began to shake, giving forth the roar of wind and thunder. Since ancient times, never had anyone dared to dominate this place in such a fashion.